Sunday, July 23, 2006


flour change & la vignarola

devoted readers know that every sunday i make pizza at home according to the recipe of the blessed st. hamelman, whose recipe my husband adores. for the past long while i've been using the king arthur organic artisan flour.

however, this morning i ran out, and so today i'm switching to the french-style flour, just because. . . that's what i have around the house.

also in this spirit, i'm altering the recipe for la vignarola (fava, artichoke and pea stew) somewhat. yes, that's what i was peeling all those favas for!

i just don't happen to have any more white wine already open, so i'm substituting dry marsala of good quality. in the same vein since i couldn't readily acquire any guanciale this afternoon, i'm going with some diced prosciutto end.

as i always say, this is part of the core idea of italian cooking -- going with what ya got and making it great. which is my intention today.

i have 3 recipes for la vignarola: one by marcella hazan, one by anna del conte, and one by suzanne dunaway. the first two ask you to cook the veggies to death; while i understand that "crisp-tender" is not the italian way, i loathe mushy veggies.

so i'm going with the dunaway recipe as that seems to have a time and technique that might not utterly destroy the freshness of the ingredients. . . .anyway, the french flour seems to be rising gangbusters already, so i think this substitution will be fantastic!

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posted by fortune | 12:12 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments